Loving Lia
by Aimlessly Unknown
Summary: Some girls have all the luck. Ottilia Shanner's many possible soul mates. - For Mistress of Sarcasm. -


**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters, even Lia. Mistress of Sarcasm (author of _Year One: The Academic_ and _Year Two: Descending Light_ - the stories where Lia actually exists) owns her.

This is a story for Mistress of Sarcasm's lovely character Lia and the many possible love interests (not including Aster or any one else). Go and read _Year One: The Academic_ and _Year Two: Descending Light **now**_. They are truly masterpieces!

Thanks to MoS for letting me use Lia!

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i.

If Lia Shanner ever wished she had some shred of _strength _or_ courage_ at one point in her life, it was now. It wasn't when she was faced with a bloodcurdling pain that echoed in her chest and made her skin white hot with agony as she _writhed_ on the floor, eyes wide and mouth gasping for air. It wasn't when she heard Syrus (_darling lovable Syrus who's only crime was not having enough of a spine to tell Zane where to shove his ego_) was taken by beasts who, literally, wanted to rip him to shreds and feast on his soul or when Jaden (_god where to begin with Jaden 'I'll save all my friends because I'm that badass' Yuki_) told her with blazing, beautiful eyes that he was going to get Syrus back. No matter what.

It wasn't any of those times.

It was now.

Now when Jaden told her that he was weak, that he felt like, like something she never wants to touch again because he's Jaden and he's not supposed to feel like _that_. When he sits with her in her room and tells her about Aquos and how losing his cards made him feel like he wasn't Jaden anymore, like he was a shadow that didn't begin to exist. In losing his cards, Jaden Yuki lost himself.

In losing Jaden, Lia lost herself.

(Because it was Jaden who forced her, screaming and kicking and snarling, from her pathetic excuse for an alcove; from her shield of thorns and aching anger that gave her the name the Wicked Bitch of Yellow Ra. It was Jaden who gave her new friends and the ability to _believe_ in something that wasn't logical, that wasn't tangible to her, to the Academic.)

" _God Lia, it wasn't like losing the colorful things on these pieces of paper, it was losing _me_, losing who I was. My friends gave me those cards, the people who made me, me, gave me those cards. And others I won, but it was mostly the people. I didn't feel like Jaden, I felt like someone else with a face and a body but I wasn't _me_._" He had looked up at her with adoring eyes that looked like gold in its most beautiful form, "_ I want to be me, not some shadow!_

" _I remember thinking it's not fair! Aster stole my cards and told the world I stole his, and why do _I _lose _my _cards! I was stolen Lia! _Stolen!

His eyes change and there's hope in them and Lia wants to smile because that is Jaden, not that pathetic mess from before, " _And when I was in whatever world it was and Aquos was there he showed me my cards, the cards I made as a kid, it was like it was me. Like I found a Jaden that was there and just hid._"

Lia feels like she'd love both Jaden's equally.

Lia wants to reach out and tell him that it's always been him, he's always been him, and there's no one who can compare to where he's carved himself out on her heart. That he's the One and always the One and no one will ever be the One-ness that he is. She wants to tell him how much she loves him and push back the fear that has strangled her with pain before, but she won't. Because she's the Wicked Bitch and he's _that guy_.

The guy that everyone goes too because he solves everything, and he does it with a smile and a thumbs up; because he's that awesome; and she wants to be _the girl_ that's next to him. And, while they aren't kissing in public or holding hands, she has him and all the warmth in the world in the palm of her hand.

While Lia ponders her very much messed up love life, she doesn't notice Jaden looking at her. She doesn't notice his eyes warm up and his lips curve into a smile because Jaden knows Lia doesn't think she's beautiful but he _knows_ she is. He thinks she's the most beautiful when she's angry and vengeful and her hazel eyes light up and spit fire, when her hair is crazy and wild, and even when it's pulled back into a neat little bun on the top of her head. He thinks she's beautiful when she's at her extremes and sharp and defined and Lia.

But he thinks more so that she's gorgeous when she's blurred, when she's that girl whose jaw isn't angular and her cheeks aren't high-boned and she's somewhere between ice and fire. Where she isn't sure if she should be angry (righteously so) or afraid (terrified actually, Lia doesn't get scared but she gets terrified). Jaden realizes he loves her when she wonders why anyone would.

ii.

Bastian knows. Bastian always knows _everything_, knows Lia likes him more than she should because he's really not good boyfriend material. He's too logical and imperial and sometimes when he's writing on his wall he forgets there's another world outside full of people and friends and dueling, he forgets everything but the equations he writes to be the best. He realizes he forgets to eat and wonders how in bloody blue blazes he would remember a date with Lia – and her wrath is not to be incurred. Especially when she has a book in her tapered fingers and that aim of hers that screams baseball star – if only she cared about baseball.

Or any sports.

He tries to remember he'd be a bad boyfriend when he sees Lia lying in her dorm, talking to him, freely. With her hair pulled up into a messy bun as she organizes her pictures, a simple smile as she does so. He tries to remember how he forgets such simple things when she turns to him and as they argue about philosophy or the sort how she's happy that she can talk to someone as smart as her, hell, maybe even smarter. He tries to remember how logical he is when she looks at him with _that look _and his knees go weak at how she relies on him to explain Dueling, to explain his world, which she wants to _share_.

Too bad no one told him Lia Shanner was absolutely beautiful when she's asleep. And no one told him not to go right ahead and bore to her to sleep, because when he turns around one night after a rousing debate about photography he sees her sprawled on her bed, hair wrapped up and strands falling loosely on her face, snoring lightly. No one told him her skin glowed like a halo when the dim moonlight hit her face as she rolled over, casting shadows across her face. No one told him Lia Shanner was, almost unbelievably, beautiful in her own way.

He avoids her for a month after. Dodging her when they have classes that are together – she took Duel History alongside History to try to find out more about their world – wherein he used to sit next to her, he abandons her to the other Ra whose only goal seems to be ignoring her very existence. He sits next to Jaden and Syrus at lunch despite his previous habit of sitting right next to Lia, his shoulder barely touching hers. He doesn't explain Dueling anymore even if she asks the question directly to him, he lets Alexis do it. Bastian Misawa feels like a coward for a month.

So he's not entirely surprised when she walks up to him, cornered like prey, in the hallway and asks in a fierce voice, "Why the hell have you been avoiding me like the Plague?"

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean." That's a good answer, not too – oh who the hell is he kidding, that was a horrible answer and he and she both know it.

"Cut the shit, Misawa." Last name? He's doomed, "Now tell me why you have been avoiding me."

He has the grace to look sheepish and she has the Lia-ness to look like she wants to strangle him, so he tells her cut and dry, "You look pretty when you sleep." He blurted it out.

She blushes fiercely and turns away. Now it's his turn. She avoids him for a month and a half and now he knows how she felt. It's unnerving because he was never as close to Lia as Jaden was. He finds himself growing angry at how they seem to have their own little conversations, irrationally so in fact. He lasts almost a month before he wants to snap but he doesn't, not until she sits next to him in the library and says offhandedly, "You took me by surprise."

"Did I? I was unaware thanks to your vehement avoidance of me." It's a biting comment that she would be proud of if this was any other time.

They sit in silence after that, it takes about half an hour before Lia speaks again, "You started it, you know?"

It's a childish statement so he replies with a childish answer; a thick laugh and the words, "You French women, always so vengeful."

"I prefer to think of it as fair."

"I'm sure you would."

"You British men, always so ridiculous."

He slings an arm over her shoulders and leans down to touch his head to hers, she looks up at him like a child, "Haven't the Brits and the French always been allies?"

She smiles back, "Yes, I suppose they have."

She's doesn't hold his hand as they walk to Ra dorm, she doesn't walk closer to him than normal, but as they arrive at her room he notices Lia looking pensive. Bastian twines his fingers in Lia's hair – still unbelieving that she would notice him – and asks, "Is something wrong, love?"

A fierce blush takes over her pale face as she darts up – quick as a cat – and plants a chaste kiss on his cheek, right next to his mouth, and murmurs, "Je'taime."

And as the door shuts and the last of her disappears into the room Bastian finds the time to be _ecstatic_ that he took a rudimentary French class in Britain.

iii.

It's like a car crash. Gruesome and hideous but you _can't_ look away, with the sickening crunch of metal and shattering of glass and the blood that falls through the cracks. That's the only way to describe the LiaChazz dynamic battles. Though this one seems different to you. The way Chazz moves to step, flagrantly, into Lia's space and the way Lia seems to react to it. The way Chazz's voice seems to be course and low and rough but steam with concern and anger or, maybe, the way Lia seems almost quick to reassure him that she's fine.

And even if you didn't know Lia and Chazz the way Jaden and Alexis do, you'd know something was different. Their fights, after all, were legend.

So here you are. Watching them, wishing you had popcorn, and just kind of terrified for your life if they catch you.

" You stupid _bitch_, I told you to tell me if your chest hurt!" He screams, shifting to move two steps (exactly 4.3 inches each, not too close, but close enough).

Lia rolls her eyes, " Leave me alone, Princeton."

That wasn't new, Lia had often used Chazz's last name, but somehow this seemed to wound Chazz. Not that any normal person would know. But you've often watched these two; they're good for a study on how people react differently to the words of a loved one.

" God, do you just _enjoy_ doing fucked up shit like this?"

" I said leave me alone! Or do you not understand Basic English?"

" Why can't you just tell me?" He hissed.

" Why do you even care?" Lia bites, hard, on the bait.

Chazz threw his hands up in the air and ground, "You stupid, unappealing, _bitch_! Why do I even bother? You never listen!"

" Why should I? It's my pain, I'll deal with it! Go back to your hole in the ground and _leave me alone_."

" What the fuck is your problem with letting people help you? You got some kinda phobia or something, Shanner?"

Lia narrows her cat-like eyes, "I am _fine_ with letting people, who care, help me."

"I care." It's not soft and kind, it's mean and cruel, but Lia understands. If anyone understands Chazz, you think its Lia. At least when it comes to hiding feelings behind barbs and thorns.

But she doesn't believe him (she's believed for too long and too hard and been let down too many times to believe now), " The hell you do."

The last straw has been tugged, " Listen, you French idiot, you can run me down all you like; but don't you dare try to tell me how I feel, got that? If I want to care about you then I will care about you, dammit! Now, shut the hell up, and let me take you out for ice cream!"

You do a double take when Lia doesn't push back, she only replies haughtily, " I'm getting a double scoop."

As they walk away you wonder if you've missed something important. At least your study is done; you shrug on your Ra jacket, and turn away from the pair.

Maybe now you can postulate if their kids will have Lia's temper or Chazz's indifference.

iv.

When the invite came in the mail Atticus leapt for joy. Yes, it was unbecoming for an up-and-coming agent of another up-and-coming actor, and yes, he was shushed by several people near him at the time of the arrival, but Atticus was _ecstatic_. He hadn't seen Lexi for a while now – oh sure there were letters but teasing her was much more fun in person – and Jaden was off being some big Game King so he wasn't there with Atticus. Syrus, Chumley, Zane – the big bad boss man who worked for Seto Kaiba (Sucker!), all of them were off doing something. That left Atticus to his new friends and multitude of actors that needed a nose job, pronto; so yes, Atticus was freaking ecstatic, and they would just have to deal with his sudden departure.

_You have been invited to the five year reunion of Duel Academy! Both Academics and Duelists welcomed back along with a guest of their choice._

_Time: 5.00 PM – 10.00 PM_

_RSVP: Alexis Rhodes_

_Location: Main Duel Arena, Duel Academy_

And – despite several photo's and witnesses – Atticus did _not_ jump up and down, screaming like a little girl, when he arrived early at Duel Academy to help with the set up. In fact he walked, a very manly walk, through the maze like school until he got to the Duel Arena, and pushed open the door, in a very manly way, and was greeted by curse words.

" Fucking people with their fucking fear of heights and fucking 'oh let's have Lia do it, she can't possibly have something else to do!' Fuckers." And even without the cursing and third person point of view, Atticus would have known that was Lia, her crazed mess of hair and the far-too-big for her clothing was a dead give away.

" Need some help there, Kitten?" He asked.

Needless to say Lia squeaked loudly and damn near fell off the ladder, but otherwise was unharmed. Atticus was a different story however. But if he knew she would be able to climb down a ladder that fast and cross the room so quickly he would have run faster and farther and earlier. And yet when she got to him she didn't hit him or deliver any bodily harm to him, in fact when she leapt at him she was smiling.

Two identical kisses were distributed to his cheeks as Lia breathed out, " Atticus!"

He smiled back, " That's what they call me!"

" I'm surprised no one calls you buffoon with how you are dressed." Lia smirked, fingering his purple velvet tuxedo.

" Well no one specified a type of dress." He argued and she only laughed at him.

" Because Alexis thought people would be smart enough to realize to dress appropriately, not in Prom wear." She smiles more freely, or so he notices, because her eyes are lighting up and her mouth is curved up so highly that it may rip off of her face.

" Been a long time, ne, Kitten?" He smirked at her when the smile was wiped off of her face and she raised her hackles like only Lia could. He only had a moment to think '_gorgeous_' before she poked him in the shoulder.

" And just _where_ have you been, Mister I'm-Too-Important-To-Send-A-Postcard?" She trilled.

He slung an arm around her shoulder, " That's a lot of hyphens for an insult Lia. It wounds me deeply." He placed his hand over his heart which just might have been beating a little faster. She looked up at him with a curious face that he certainly didn't expect, but from this angle he could almost see where the white of her chest scar drifts up over her collarbone and spread like a cobweb. Her shirt hid it well, but Atticus could only see the spot where his once-lover left her mark.

He wonders, vaguely, if it still hurts.

" – and I've decided to have an alien's baby, but don't worry I'll marry Johnny Cash and we'll be fine." She looked nonchalant, and especially amused when he chokes on air and hissed out a, " What the hell?"

" I knew you weren't listening." Her voice was thin and crisp.

He smiled sheepishly and whispers, " I can't help but stare Lia Shanner, after all, you're wearing a skirt!" And oh it was true, her skirt was long and black, down to her ankles, and looked absolutely stunning on her. She blushed, a fiery red that looked blotchy on her pale face, and grabbed at the hem of her shirt, hissing in French. Atticus smiled, slinging his arm around her shoulder and looked around the Main Duel Arena before exclaiming, " It looks awesome Lia, anything I can help with?"

Lia looked pensive before saying, " Well if you could hold the ladder still while I finish hanging the banner, I won't kill you slowly."

Atticus nodded his assent before marching over to the tall ladder and bowing as if to a Queen, " After you, milady."

The blush on Lia's face grew as she shook her head at his antics. She picked up the end of the banner and began climbing the ladder, making sure not to drop the banner for the sixth time that evening.

From below her she heard Atticus saying, " I missed you Lia."

She finished the banner and smiled back down, " I missed you too, Rhodes."

" At least use my first name!" He whined loudly and Lia couldn't hold back her laughter.

And as Lia climbed down the ladder and Atticus swept her off of her feet and into a large hug, exclaiming that until she called him Atticus he wouldn't let her go. Lia leaned into his body, feeling warmer than ever, and never felt _less_ like calling him Atticus in her life.

Atticus wished she never would.

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_Reviewing makes me happy! And don't forget to review MoS's stories either!_

Aimlessly Unknown.


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